DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar

Hello OSP readers! I’m Elizabeth, Ann’s daughter. I haven’t guest blogged in quite some time; not since we shared my take onInstalling a Rain Barrel last summer. My boyfriend Darren and I recently finished a little DIY project at my house in Columbus, Ohio that my mom thought was “blog worthy” so today I’m here to tell you about my DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar.

I bought my little Cape Cod house five years ago from the children of the original owners. It was built in 1954, and while the entire inside has been updated, the outside is a never ending project that constantly needs TLC. This spring, Darren willingly offered to help me replace the 40-year old concrete patio with a cute new paver patio. Of course, I had no idea how much work and time this project would entail, and I totally thought we could remove the old patio and lay the new one all in one weekend. Delusional, I am. I’m proud to say that almost a month later, the patio is completely finished and Darren and I are still happily dating.

Here we are at a fundraiser, mid patio construction.

Anyway, my new patio pavers were delivered on several pallets. Once the pavers were installed, I could tell that a couple of the pallets were in rough shape, but two of them looked pretty good and matched perfectly. I knew I had seen several crafty ideas on Pinterest that involved pallets, but I didn’t want to use them as furniture or turn them into American flag décor. After several days of pondering, we decided I decided that Darren could make a pretty cute DIY pallet outdoor bar with the two matching pallets. He loved the idea of another project! (Well, not really.)

*Some links in this post lead to shops and websites (like Amazon) where I am an affiliate or to eBay where I am a content creator. Click HERE for my complete disclosure statement.

Prep

Step 1: The pallets were dirty, so I sprayed them off with the hose first. While they were drying, we gathered our materials.

Assembly

Step 2: The next step was to connect the two pallets together. Darren spread the Liquid Nails on the back of one pallet.

Step 3: He then laid the second pallet on top.

Step 4: To make sure they would stay together, he drilled 16 screws into the pallets.

After everything was securely connected, we he installed the wheels.

I should note: We debated about installing the wheels, but since the patio blocks on the top were so heavy AND because we’ll have to move this from my patio to the garage before winter, we decided that wheels would make it easier to move the bar. You could certainly still make this without wheels; just keep in mind that it will be heavy and harder to move.

Painting

Next was painting. Darren set up a spray painting area towards the back of my driveway once the wheels were installed. We decided to prime the pallets first; I was worried that the purple wouldn’t be bright enough without the primer. We used some old primer that was left over from another project.

The priming took about an hour and spraying the pallets purple took about 15 minutes. I should also note that it was 95 degrees outside the day we did this (oops, poor planning on my part), so the paint dried very quickly.

Once the painting was finished, we wheeled the bar over to my new patio and positioned it next to the house where I wanted it to stay. Darren spread more Liquid Nails on the top of the pallets, carefully laid the patio blocks on top, pressed down on them for a few minutes, and then it was finished!

Styling our DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar

I spent about $60 to make this DIY Pallet Outdoor Bar (that doesn’t include the décor on top). If you made this without wheels, you could do it for under $40. I’m really excited to use it – Darren and I grill out several times a week, so it will be nice to have a piece of furniture other than the patio table to put our drinks, utensils, etc.

I hope you enjoyed my most recent DIY project – hopefully I’ll be back again before another year passes. This blog post wouldn’t be complete without a special shout out to Darren for all of his hard work. Darren, thank you for making all of my DIY dreams come true!

Comments

It’s so nice to follow your transformation of a house into a home. We all know how hard it is sometimes, but also how rewarding it is. It is a never ending job, we all know that! Your blog is helping me live it delightfully. Thank you. :)

This project was so very blog worthy!!! And I loved the side comments too…shout out to Darren for being a willing (or captive) participant and for the detailed instructions! I have wanted to make one but wasn’t sure where to begin….guess my hubby has a new weekend project coming up! We have tons of pallets from his warehouse…….Wish us luck!

What a fabulous idea! Can’t wait to scrounge up some matching pallets and get started. My daughter, like you, has a new home and limited funds, so we’ve had lots of fun, upscaling, re-cycling. The size is perfect for her small patio, and your directions are so complete that I think together we can handle this one. Love that it’s on rollers, too.

Love all of your mom’s blogs, have learned so much, that she’s like a dear, cherished friend. Delighted to see you again. And as for Darren, I think he’s a ‘keeper’ :)

I love the pallet bar. I have several dollhouses. Two have amazing (albeit big) porch areas. This would be so darling for these porches. The one is a beach house. I was thinking maybe something beach related on the front of the bar. The other is for the “mansion” and of course, that would be more sophisticated.

Sweet, what a great idea! With an additional step, if you removed or cut down in size, a few of the boards in the back, you’d also have a place to put things “inside” your bar on that middle shelf bracing!

Great idea..isn’t it fun to make things and recycle?! My mother used to tell me that I could make a silk purse out of a sows ear. At the time I was young and didn’t realize what she was saying. Now many years later I feel she gave me a wonderful compliment. And I still like to see things and give new purpose in my decorating in and outside. Love that our live in Ohio. I lived in Ashland most of my life until about 20 years ago I moved to my birth date of Alabama. Love love I’ve the south. Always enjoy your mother’s posts and wonderful yo meet you. Keep the ideas rolling.

OSP Best Guides & Resources

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

On Sutton Place/Ann Drake is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See: Disclosure Statement.